#state-legislatures

#state-legislatures

A prominent transgender advocate in Texas said she was forcibly removed - and subsequently banned for a year - from the state Capitol after displaying a banner in support of trans kids during a protest on Tuesday.Sofia Sepulveda was protesting against SB 14, a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

Friday is International Transgender Day of Visibility, which is intended to celebrate the contributions of transgender and gender-expansive (TGE) people at home and around the world.This year, the celebratory aspects of Transgender Day of Visibility are being overshadowed by threats to TGE visibility in the form of hundreds of bills attacking TGE adolescents, their families and their providers.

If the anti-trans bill advances, Democratic state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh has vowed to "make it painful for everyone."The Nebraska state capital building is pictured in Lincoln, Nebraska.ChrisBoswell / iStock / Getty Images Plus A Nebraska state lawmaker has vowed to filibuster every bill in the legislative session if Republicans don't immediately withdraw two bills seeking to ban abortion and gender-affirming care.

State legislatures around the U.S. are passing bans on gender-affirming care for trans youth at a quickening pace.ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Bills to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth are quickly moving through state legislatures.Already this year, five such bans have been signed into law.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan The biggest organizations fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. today released a scathing letter Wednesday morning demanding changes at the New York Times over what the hundreds of signatories see as biased coverage of transgender people in the Times.We won't stand for the Times platforming lies, bias, fringe theories, and dangerous inaccuracies, the letter reads, adding, We demand fair coverage, we demand that the Times platform trans voices as both sources and full-time writers and editors, and we demand a meeting between Times leadership and the transgender community.

Demonstrators gather outside the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, N.C., with a "FLUSH GERRYMANDER" inflatable on the day the state's highest court held a rehearing for the redistricting case known nationally as Moore v. Harper.Bob Karp/ZUMA Press/Alamy North Carolina's highest court has overruled its earlier decision in a congressional redistricting lawsuit, throwing into question the case's status at the U.S. Supreme Court and whether that court's justices will rule on a contentious elections issue.

Here we go yet again.March 27 was just another Monday in today's America when three 9-year-olds and three adults were slaughtered in another school shooting.The question is asked over and over again: Why do these mass shootings continue to occur, not only in our schools but also countless other venues?

Gov. Mark Gordon of Wyoming, a Republican, signed that state's abortion pill ban on the same day that he said he would allow another more sweeping measure banning abortion to become law without his signature.That law, which takes effect on Sunday, would ban abortion under almost all circumstances, making it a felony to provide an abortion.

The US Supreme Court on Thursday asked parties involved in a major voting rights case out of North Carolina to file additional briefs to address new developments that occurred in the state after the justices heard oral arguments in the dispute last year.The request comes as some believe the blockbuster case might eventually be rendered moot depending on what happens in state courts.

Perhaps the first time you heard the phrase "checks and balances" was in middle school civics class.Not surprising, since it's a cornerstone of American democracy.The executive, legislative and judicial branches of government act as counterweights to each other, so that no single branch dominates.

Over 100 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have already been filed in state legislatures in 2023.NBC News reported that the bills are concentrated in 22 states, with Texas leading the charge, followed by Missouri, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.Most of the bills target trans youth, but this year, some of them are also looking to restrict health care for trans adults.

As the Supreme Court deliberates behind closed doors over a case that many believe could be one of the most consequential voting rights disputes ever to reach the high court, the Justice Department and some other parties involved are suggesting the case be dismissed due to major developments since oral arguments.

BISMARCK, N.D.The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a state abortion ban will remain blocked while a lawsuit over its constitutionality proceeds.The ban was designed to take effect once the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.But a district judge had put it on hold this summer while the Red River Women's Clinic (RRWC) pursued a lawsuit arguing the state constitution protected a right to an abortion.

WASHINGTON It has been only eight months since the Supreme Court first invoked the major questions doctrine by name in a majority opinion, using it to limit the Environmental Protection Agency's power to address climate change.Last week, the court seemed poised to use it again, to kill the Biden administration's plan to cancel more than $400 billion in student loans.

A demonstrator holds up a sign that reads "HANDS OFF OUR STATE COURTS!" during a December 2022 rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Andrew Harnik/AP An unusual move by North Carolina's highest state court has raised the question of whether the U.S. Supreme Court will end up throwing out a major election case about a once-fringe theory that could upend federal elections across the country.

On December 7, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Moore v. Harper, a case legal experts are calling "the most important debate over federalism in decades, if not in the nation's history."Voting rights advocates are calling Moore's argument, which is based on a fringe legal argument called the Independent State Legislature Theory (ISLT), a grave threat to our democracy.

EFF and our supporters have fought off numerous wrongheaded attempts by Congress to regulate online speech, including several that we wrote about last December.The bevy of bad internet regulation proposals coming out of Congress hasn't stopped.In 2022, the EARN IT Act was re-introduced.This wrongheaded bill would have allowed states to strip away critical legal protections for any websites, apps, or platforms, as long as state lawmakers linked their proposals to child abuse.

Alexandra Robbins' The Teachers: A Year Inside America's Most Vulnerable, Important Profession opens with this line: "You may think you know what's inside, but you don't."And Robbins delivers on this promise.I taught four different high school classes for two years in Austin before the COVID-19 pandemic, which showed me what teachers experience.

Megan Rapinoe celebrates after winning the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France Final match between The United State of America and The Netherlands at Stade de Lyon on July 7, 2019 in Lyon, France.Photo: Shutterstock Out soccer star Megan Rapinoe dedicated her speech at the Time Women of the Year Gala to thanking the trans community.

First Lady Jill Biden has once again inflamed anti-LGBTQ+ right wingnuts.This week, Dr. Biden, along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, hosted the 17th annual International Women of Courage Awards.The State Department has handed out awards to over 180 women from more than 80 countries since 2007.

California "can't do it alone," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in announcing the coalition of states.Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the reunification center in Half Moon Bay, California, on January 24, 2023.Shae Hammond / MediaNews Group / East Bay Times via Getty Images Twenty Democratic governors launched a coalition this week with the stated goal of expanding and protecting reproductive rights, with particular emphasis on strengthening abortion access, both for in-state and out-of-state residents who may travel to them to obtain the medical procedure.

Former NFL coach and current NBC football analyst Tony Dungy recently found himself at the mercy of Twitter after touting a long-debunked far-right conspiracy theory about students dressing up as animals and using litter boxes at school.In a since-deleted tweet, the former football coach responded to a post from the right-wing publication The Daily Wire about a Minnesota legislator supporting a bill that would require menstrual products to be placed in boys' bathrooms at schools.

A Republican lawmaker has come under fire for saying in a speech that teachers and schools are being forced to recognize furries as cats and "to respect it.""In schools today there's just such goofy things, I mean, people are saying they feel this and they feel that, feelings we know are obviously not accurate," North Dakota state Sen. Judy Estenson (R) said during a state senate judiciary committee hearing.

AUSTIN, Texas When the 2023 session of the Texas Legislature opened this week in Austin, it was another case of our law-making body facing 21st-century problems under a state constitution that's 147 years old.The legislature meets only every other year while most state legislatures in the U.S. meet every year.

Lawmakers are introducing wealth tax proposals as federal lawmakers fail to combat wealth inequality.Participants hold signs during a protest outside then-Governor Andrew Cuomo's offices in Manhattan on January 5, 2021.Erik McGregor / LightRocket via Getty Images Across seven states on Thursday, lawmakers will be introducing bills aimed at taxing the wealth of the richest Americans as Congress has repeatedly failed to raise taxes on the rich or target wealthy tax-dodgers.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has appointed far-right anti-LGBTQ+ activist Christopher Rufo to the board of trustees of the New College of Florida - a school with a reputation for being progressive and queer-friendly.In addition to virulently targeting the LGBTQ+ community, Rufo has spent years helping to build a movement against the teaching of so-called critical race theory - an academic term conservatives have manipulated to essentially mean teaching children anything about the history of racism in the U.S.

My goal this year is for 10+ state legislatures to pass curriculum transparency bills, requiring public schools to make all teaching materials easily available to parents via internet.

Leonard Leo has spent decades influencing courts at the federal and state levels to advance far right politics.Every sitting conservative Supreme Court justice had some boost from Leonard Leo and his dark money network when they were being selected.Jared Rodriguez / Truthout A new investigation finds that groups associated with prominent anti-abortion judicial activist Leonard Leo - who has had a hand in the nomination of every sitting conservative Supreme Court justice - have poured tens of millions into significant state court races over the past two decades, demonstrating the depth of Leo's campaign to pack U.S. courts with far right judges.